


Real Villains

by GeorgeCantWrite



Series: Pietro and Bucky One Shots [5]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bisexual Pietro Maximoff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Pietro Maximoff Lives, Stark Tower, Why Did I Write This?, i wrote this instead of working
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-19 12:21:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17001570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeorgeCantWrite/pseuds/GeorgeCantWrite
Summary: “The real villain here is me, obviously.”"Chill the fuck out, Angst Master."





	Real Villains

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this instead of sleeping, so naturally it's not up to the usual standard. Please enjoy regardless!

"The real villain here is me, obviously."

"Chill the fuck out, Angst Master."

Pietro looked at Bucky with raised eyebrows and an amused look on his face. They were sitting together in Pietro's room. The night had been going awfully slow and then Bucky had knocked on his door. Pietro knew that everyone in the tower suffered night terrors, and with Bucky's past, he tended to have more than most. Aside from Romanov and maybe the old man, Clint.

Now the two were sat on the floor, against the foot of Pietro's bed, hidden away in the semi-darkness. Jarvis had the lights on low, because he knew bright lights weren't fun.

He looked over at Bucky, eyebrows still raised and a challenge in his eyes. "There are many villains. You are not one of them," he said, shrugging his shoulders. He leaned back against the bed, eyes still on the man beside him. "So what if you had a bad past? We all did in some degree."

As much as Pietro liked to get things over and done with quickly, he had an inkling that that wouldn't be the case tonight. Especially with the look on Bucky's face. Usually, Bucky would go to Steve - Pietro could hear them talking until the sun rose, no matter what Stark said about the rooms being soundproof. Pietro maybe knew more than he probably should've about Bucky, but it still didn't make him care about the man any less. Not that Bucky knew about those goddamn feelings, of course. Pietro kept it inside, only he knew. (So naturally Wanda and Clint fucking Barton knew.) (Romanov probably knew too, but he didn't want to talk to her about those kinds of things.) (And she never spoke to him about those things either.)

Bucky was still looking at him. And it was hard to tell how long he'd been doing it; time was always tricky for Pietro. Seconds warped into hours and minutes into decades. Finally, Bucky looked away, scratching his beard with the metal hand, the one that Steve hated. Pietro didn't particularly care about the arm, or its bloody past. He knew it was a part of Bucky - literally - and its past tied heavily with him and the guilt he harboured. Maybe if he bothered Stark enough, he'd give Bucky the latest version of the arms he'd made for Bucky.

"Sure, you killed a few people, but it wasn't really you," Pietro tried, doing his best to sound light about the subject. People treated it too seriously sometimes. Especially Stark, which Pietro could understand. He had a similar situation with that guy. "Was Winter Soldier. You're not him."

"But I was." God, his voice was so heavy with guilt it made Pietro's heart break. "Kept fightin' so long to not become that shit - Zola still put that thing inside of me and put this fucker on me." His metal fist clenched and Pietro thought he heard the metal creak. Could you break vibranium? He had a good hunch Bucky was having a good go at trying to. If Stark was going to give Bucky another arm, he hoped it was as sturdy as the one he currently had.

"But you got out. Is more than what could be expected. You found yourself again. Is … it's something you should be proud of," he said, and he felt his mouth run dry when he saw Bucky half smile. "Even though Stark made those bombs and they killed my parents, I got past it. Learned to forgive him. I still hate him because he's a dick, but it wasn't his fault. He knows it wasn't your fault either."

As quick as Pietro is, sometimes he misses things and other times he hangs on in the second, learning ever detail about something until it gets committed to memory. Learning how Bucky had killed Stark's parents had given Pietro a sense of déjà vu. It put a lot of things into perspective, how Stark had a similar situation to him. That that man could be as broken as Pietro, if worse. But Stark was getting through his hurt and struggles just as Pietro was.

They all lived in the same building, they had to get along at some point.

"You act as if that makes a difference," said Bucky, and he was pointedly not looking at Pietro. "I was still there, even if you say it weren't me. Could'a stopped it but I didn't."

Pietro had a sudden urge to hit Bucky. If he did, it might knock some sense into the man. "Barton got brainwashed like you. He's trying to move past it all." By moving past it, Pietro meant that him and the rest of the Avengers had thrown Barton into therapy and made him talk about the shit that gave him terrors. No-one wore light blue colours in the tower and Tony made sure the heating was always warm, especially in the areas Barton hung out in the most. If they could do that shit for Barton, they sure as shit could do it for Bucky too. Pietro knew he'd go above and beyond for the man, and that Steve would too. He had at least two people willing to help him. Bucky just had to open up that little bit so that they could help. And Sam Wilson would help; he was knowledgeable in trauma and even though he and Bucky messed with each other, Bucky knew the man would help him.

Maybe Pietro was overthinking things and getting himself in too deep. Where was Wanda at a time like this? She understood him better than he did. He'd blame that on the fact he'd died and came back to life. That was something he and Bucky had in common.

"Just because you have a bad past, it doesn't make you a villain. Go to therapy like Barton. It will do you good."

Bucky sighed and leaned further back into the bed, looking lost in thought. Pietro couldn't look away, too worried that somehow he'd fucked up and Bucky was going to just leave. But then Bucky sighed, ran a hand over his stubbled face and pursed his lips slightly. "Sure, but I gotta throw Stevie into therapy too. Fucker's harbouring shit too,"

"Might as well do group therapy. For people who think they're villains when really they're just a little roughed up and need to talk."

"Little roughed up?"

Pietro rolled his eyes. "Fucked up and fucked over. Better?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "You'll be OK," he said, nodding a little. He got up and went for some more food - because his metabolism hated him - and sat back down beside Bucky within a blink of an eye.

"Do those StarkBars help?" asked Bucky, looking at the bar in Pietro's hands. He broke a piece off and they both looked at the insides. "Looks alright, considering,"

"Tastes like shit though." He grinned a little as he held out the piece he'd broken off. "Wanna try it?"

"After you said it tastes like shit? No thanks." Bucky laughed and waved the piece back to him. "Knowing you're not gonna starve to death is enough for me. But maybe tell Stark to update the taste,"

The two sat in companionable silence for however long it was - Pietro's sense of time would never be the same - and he spent most of it just looking at Bucky in the semi-darkness. There was so much that Pietro wanted to do, felt the urge to do, but ignored it. He much preferred sitting by Bucky's side. And so he sat.

"We need to talk," said Bucky, and it felt terrified Pietro as much as it excited him. "And I think you know what I'm gonna say, but I'm not too sure how I'm gonna say it."

Pietro couldn't tell if his heart was beating anymore. "I hope so because telling you I like you was harder to do than I thought."

He could see the kiss coming from a mile away, time slowed as it usually did, but he couldn't keep himself waiting. He hurried the kiss, knocking both he and Bucky back onto the floor. Neither particularly cared, clutching each other tightly, unwilling to let each other go. Bucky's breath caught in his throat, and Pietro couldn't help but grin. He felt like he'd go insane with how Bucky's hands ran over his back.

Come morning, the others gave knowing looks and amused grins. Then, of course, shock when they saw the state of Bucky's visible skin when he came in.


End file.
